1. Field of the Invention
Method and apparatus consistent with the present invention relate to an open application program interface (API) service, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing an API service and generating an API mash-up, and a computer-readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mash-up service is a technology producing a new API by putting two or more APIs together in a web. The mash-up service has advantages in that efforts for realizing a new service are reduced by using an established opened API and in that utility of the established opened API can be maximized.
FIG. 1 is a view of an example of a mash-up service based on an open API.
FIG. 1 illustrates a mash-up 110 in which an imaging service known as Flickr (an online photo management and sharing application), and a map service from Google are combined together. When a user clicks a specific location on a map, the mash-up 110 displays images related to the location on the map. A hypertext markup language (HTML) code 120 of the mash-up 110 is illustrated on the right side of FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method of producing the mash-up of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2, firstly, a mash-up developer plans to produce a particular kind of mash-up (Operation 202). Then, the mash-up developer searches and selects open APIs (Operation 210) and (Operation 216) that should be used to produce the mash-up (Operation 204). If the mash-up developer decides to produce a mash-up service by using a Google map open API and a Flickr open API, the mash-up developer analyzes the Google map open API and the Flickr open API and grasps characteristics (for example, communication protocol, data format, and input/output data format) of the open API services (Operation 206). An open API service provider generates user account information (Operation 212) and (Operation 218) or a user certification key (Operation 214) and provides them to the mash-up developer.
The mash-up developer secures the open APIs, embodies a mash-up function with reference to manuals provided by open API service providers, and determines a layout of a HTML page to complete final mash-up contents (Operation 208). Accordingly, the mash-up developer should take charge of works related to an embodiment of a mash-up such as a communication protocol and data format conversion. In particular, since a method of providing open API services varies according to the open API service providers, firstly the mash-up developer should analyze various open API services and learn the related technologies, and the mash-up depends on the mash-up developer's ability.
Also, since codes or scripts related to the open APIs consisting of the mash-up are made by the mash-up developer at his or her discretion, it is difficult to renew the open APIs consisting of the mash-up or to add a new open API to the established mash-up.